IS CASH ACTUALLY ENTERTAINING?

I hate contact sport. Let’s get that out of the way. Yes, this is another full frontal attack on rugby.

Hear me out…

I spend most of my time living a normal life. I work in an office, I party, I’m social, I enjoy friends and I get that the world is a difficult place. Also, I’m a violinist.

Whenever I am submitted to watching the sports news I am confronted with the brutality of people smashing into one another and to be honest, it freaks me out. The broken bones, the bruises and the blood don’t freak me out – the body is beautiful, always. What lights my fire is the apathy with which the audience can watch such grotesque behaviour without getting bored.

Is it not repetitive? Have we not seen this before? Is this not part of the plan? Does this sort of thing not happen often enough? Is banning paid contact sport not a logical normal option – or does that sound like something a party pooper would say?

This week another young sports star has been tackled, broken their back bone and is now expected to never play again. How do we feel about this news? Is it just another acceptable part of the game?

It’s just a part of the game… -Phil Gould

People actually say: “It’s just a part of the game…”. To me, that honestly sounds like insanity. Isn’t insanity and demise relegated to the poor and weak? Prime time television and young men breaking their bones is an odd match – someone must be paying a heft bill to keep that relationship up and running.

When I see a tackle, I think cash. Marketing cash. Do we need to remain sedate? Are we hyperactive? I’m convinced people don’t like sport, I’m convinced they are force feed it from their immediate community. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a single person talk about contact sport in a rational interesting way. Ever. And at work, I try every week.

Alex McKinnon was tackled. It was a regular tackle, unworthy of a penalty. He fell awkwardly, landed on the back of his head, twisted hist neck and and broke his C4, C5 vertebrae underneath a pile of men. The audience cheered. He was stretched off. These sorts of accidents often involved some level of paralysis. It’s now scary future for him to have to confront, at such a young age.

What is it all for? Is it for the fans? For the game? For the money?

This sort of thing doesn’t happen in normal life. People don’t walk around grabbing one another and smashing them into the ground. Why not? If this sort of thing happened, on the street, people would be put in jail. Why? Is there something immoral about breaking one another?

Are you seriously able to turn a blind and apply a different set of rules because money has been able to redefine the rules in a given arena?